Gala honors Nicholas Cage

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, April 23, 1998

1998-04-23 04:00:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- THE FILMS may start Thursday night at the 41st San Francisco Film Festival. But the celebration and the celebrities revved up Wednesday when Nicolas Cage was honored at a star-studded gala dinner and he received the 1998 Peter J. Owens Award.

Cage is a man of few words. His eyes go to the middle distance. He does not look at you unless you are a TV person and then he hones in on the camera like a real pro. We talk, not about the award, but about "City of Angels," which has taken San Francisco quite by storm.

"I'm very happy with the response to the film. Theater goers are responding to movies in a very honest way. The movie makes people feel some very real emotion."

Sharon Stone, who was the night's auctioneer (more about that later) saw the movie a week ago with a posse of her gal pals and admitted, "I sobbed like a lunatic in that movie."

Cage and his wife, Patricia Arquette, who was wearing a gorgeous lavender duchesse satin number and an agate and pearl necklace given to her by festival board member Jeanette Etheredge's mother, Armen Bali, both loved the film's wide appeal, but he doesn't particularly like it when somebody calls it a "chick flick."

"That's not a term I like," Cage said. "I took my kids to see it."

He probably didn't take the kids to see "Face / Off" or

"Leaving Las Vegas" or "ConAir," some of his pithier and more recent films, the ones that have won him awards including the Owens honor. (He is in very good company: Annette Bening and Harvey Keitel are two previous winners.)

As for the party itself . . . does the phrase controlled riot resonate with you?

I don't know what happens to San Francisco any time a movie star (and Sharon Stone is that) comes on the scene. Multiply that exponentially - Nick and Patricia, Cheech, Robin Williams, Tom Waits, Peter Coyote, musician Bob Weir, director Barry Levinson - and you've got a near riot on your hands. A very polite one - black tie, in fact - but still an unmanageable crowd. No wonder Stone waited until the very last moment to walk into the ballroom at the ANA Hotel.

Not everyone was happy with the crush, which was managed by Film Festival volunteers who let their badges get the best of their courtesy levels. Seated on a rust-colored pouf in the lobby (coincidentally the same color as the outfit she had bought in India) was Delia Ehrlich, not one to mince words. "This is an orgy of people-watching, but I hate large crowds. This is soooo Hollywood. They're all looking at each other and asking, "Is that somebody?"

As an auctioneer, Stone was quick on the uptake. As honorary chairwoman of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, she has proved that she can get money out of the stingiest deep pockets. For the Film Festival's live auction, the tall actress, wearing a dark green Vera Wang slink, a leaf-colored scarf thrown offhandedly over her shoulder and a pair of lavender tinted specs, unloaded a number of prize packages at premium rates. "I'm here to get your money, so let's get that out on the table," she began, and then sold everything that wasn't nailed down.

Watching the action was actor Coyote, who co-starred with Stone in Levinson's "Sphere." Most of the time during filming, he said, they were sopping wet. "She's very straight, all heart and really fun," he said. "But it's an even better sign - women love her."

Attempting to sell "The Way to San Jose" package - Sharks' hockey tickets - for more than the $2,200 floor bid, she cracked wise: "I left L.A. to get away from those" (Sharks, we presume). "You get into the owners' suite with this. Well, I've heard that one before . . . for free." Final take on hockey tix: $3,600. When it comes to charity, she has no shame. None at all. &lt;